587,349 Courtyard Design Photos
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Photographe immobilier, architecture, intérieurPhotographie immobilière d'extéieur, de jardin...
©Marc Julien
Searl Lamaster Howe ArchitectsThe raised back patio is just two steps down from the great room/kitchen. On the left is the mudroom which links the house to the garage and home theater. Just out of view is an outdoor fireplace.
InnovationLandWe love this rustic-modern Houston patio addition with an outdoor kitchen and double pergola!
It not only made the most of a long, narrow space while satisfying strict homeowners association rules, but did so affordably in a warm, timeless style.
“The client really enjoys outdoor living, but had a specific budget they wanted to meet,” explains Outdoor Homescapes owner Wayne Franks. “They also live on a golf course and had to meet particular HOA requirements.”
The HOA requirements restricted how far back the new 450-square-foot patio and pergola could extend back into the yard. The HOA also wanted to make sure the patio’s colors and materials matched the existing home and others around it.
“We chose colors and materials that offered texture and character, but that would go with just about anything around it,” says Wayne. “We found what we were looking for in the Fantastico travertine and Austin limestone – two materials clients love and just can’t go wrong with.”
The Austin limestone facing the 8-foot-square, L-shaped kitchen island is dry-stacked in a castle pattern for a naturalistic, rustic look. Yet its light, neutral color keeps the style fresh and modern.
Adding to the modern look are the stainless steel appliances: an RCS 30-inch stainless steel grill, double burner and outdoor fridge. Even though the finishes on the sink and light fixtures (Hunter pendant lamps and Hampton Bay light/fan combos) have a different finish – oil-rubbed-bronze – this actually follows the recent trend of mixing different metals, materials and finishes.
“The look’s not so matchy-matchy anymore,” explains Wayne. “Mixing it up makes it look more authentic and personalized.”
That’s why backsplashes like the one in this project – done in glass and metal mosaic – are also becoming more popular than traditional ceramic tile.
Another recent trend can be seen here, too – an amping up of color variation and texture.
“In addition to the split-face texture of the rock, you can definitely see the bold color variation in the travertine,” says Wayne.
The flooring is a Fantastico travertine, laid out in a Versailles pattern. “The Fantastico tile is killer,” says Wayne. “The warm reds go great with red brick, which we have a lot of around here.”
The countertop with the rounded, raised bar at the end is English walnut travertine.
The red bar stools also add a pop of exciting color that contrasts nicely with the greenery around the patio.
The double pergola, continues Wayne, is No. 2 pine stained a Minwax honey-gold. One side of the pergola – the side over the seating area – is covered with Lexan, a clear material that keeps out rain, heat and UV rays.
The pergola also juts further into the yard on that side. “It’s called a scallop, and it just lends some visual interest,” explains Wayne. “It prevents the pergola from just looking like one big rectangular hunk of wood.”
Wayne particularly likes how everything blended so well with the brick – which was a big concern – yet didn’t come off as too neutral or boring.
“The Fantastico travertine and red chairs do an excellent job of pulling the red from the brick and working with the warmth of that color to make a super-inviting space,” says Wayne. “We’re really pleased with how it all ties together so well.”
Garden Structures & MoreVery inviting isn't it? I have lost count how many of these I have built over the years. And they are like snowflakes every single one is different!
587,349 Courtyard Design Photos
Exterior Worlds Landscaping & DesignA Memorial area family commissioned us to create a natural swimming pool in their back yard. The family already had a standard pool on premises, but it was isolated in an area of the yard not particularly suited to seating guests or hosting get-togethers. What they wanted was a second, natural swimming pool built that would serve as the hub of a new home outdoor entertainment area consisting of a new stone patio, comfortable outdoor seating, and a fire pit. They wanted to create something unique that would preserve as much of the natural features of the landscape as possible, but that would also be completely safe and fully functional as a swimming pool.
We decided to design this new landscaping plan around a pre-existent waterfall that was already on the property. This feature was too attractive to ignore, and provided the ideal anchor point for a new gathering area. The fountain had been designed to mimic a natural waterfall, with stones laid on top of one another in such a way as to look like a mountain cliff where water spontaneously springs from the top and cascades down the rocks. At first glance, many would miss the opportunity that such a structure provides; assuming that a fountain designed like a cliff would have to be completely replaced to install a natural swimming pool. Our landscaping designers, however, came up with a landscape plan to transform one archetypal form into the other by simply adding to what was already there.
At the base of the rocks we dug a basin. This basin was oblong in shape and varied in degrees of depth ranging from a few inches on the end to five feet in the middle. We directed the flow of the water toward one end of the basin, so that it flowed into the depression and created a swimming pool at the base of the rocks. This was easy to accomplish because the fountain lay parallel to the top of a natural ravine located toward the back of the property, so water flow was maintained by gravity. This had the secondary effect of creating a new natural aesthetic. The addition of the basin transformed the fountain’s appearance to look more like a cliff you would see in a river, where the elevation suddenly drops, and water rushes over a series of rocks into a deeper pool below. Children and guests swimming in this new structure could actually imagine themselves in a Rocky Mountain River.
We then heated the swimming pool so it could be enjoyed in the winter as well as the summer, and we also lit the pool using two types of luminaries for complimentary effects. For vegetation, we used mercury vapor down lights to backlight surrounding trees and to bring out the green color of foliage in and around the top of the rocks. For the brown color of the rocks themselves, and to create a sparkling luminance rising up and out of the water, we installed incandescent, underwater up lights. The lights were GFIC protected to make the natural swimming pool shock proof and safe for human use.
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